Setting Sun, Rising Moon
by BritishSarcasm
Summary: HitsuKarin; Hitsugaya is in a bind so he calls upon Karin to help him, but this seems to cause more problems then he could ever have thought of. Plenty of laws broken and many ambiguities. M for swearing and Chp4
1. Morning, Karin

**Ok we're now into the past, Karin is 18 years old and Tosh is **

… **god knows …**

* * *

**Chapter Title;** Morning, Karin

Hitsugaya had been called to an emergency Captains meeting; no-one was waiting outside so he went into the 1st Squad building. No-one was there either.

'Ah, Hitsugaya Toshiro', an old man with a walking stick looked up from his chair at the far end.

'Hai,' Toshiro turned round frowning at the lack of Captains.

'Wondering why only you are here?'

'…Hai' he said again, what else could he say?

'That's because the meeting is only for you … as you are aware you are the youngest Captain … ever, as such I have a task for to complete. Do not feel that you are being singled out, it's just a precaution to make sure you are coping adequately.'

Toshiro immediately felt singled out, but he didn't complain, he expected this sooner or later, he hadn't even finished Bankai yet, and he wasn't exactly Zaraki level on reiatsu.

'I see, so what _task_ is this exactly,' Toshiro said raising an eyebrow

'It's a two part task; you are to go to a network of caves in a sacred mountain of the Human World and retrieve a special item that we have been tracking for some time.' Toshiro felt a bit better, _that doesn't sound too bad._

'And' the Sotaicho continued, 'you must do this whilst ensuring the safety of a human girl.'

_I take back my previous statement_

'What?!' Toshiro blurted, what was this, another way of saying hurry up and get a girlfriend?!

'Is there a problem?'

'…' Toshiro wanted to scream in protest, but knew in reality he had no choice, 'no, Sotaicho'

'Good, you will leave tomorrow morning'.

Toshiro left the building and starting walking back to his Office, all the while wondering; who on earth he was going to take to tag along with him? Then it clicked, there was only one Human girl that he knew of … oh dear.

'Kurosaki Karin,' he muttered.

--

Toshiro walked out from the Senkei Gate and looked around, he was on the soccer field, the same field that he had won that game.

'Tch! Since when did I get sentimental?' he kicked a rock, then started to look for Karin, but instead was met with Ichigo's reiatsu. _Even better, _he thought,_ a trail to follow._

He followed the path of trace reiatsu until he came to a small clinic

'….what is-'

'TOSHIRO!?' Toshiro nearly jumped out of his skin, only one person would be shouting his first name in such confused tones.

'Hello, Kurosaki' Toshiro turned round with a scowl set firmly in place

'What are you doing here? No another Espada raid is it?' Ichigo asked, concerned.

'No, no, nothing like that, but I was wondering if you could tell me where Karin is' Ichigo's mood suddenly turned sour.

'And why would you want to know that, eh, Toshiro?' Ichigo snarled through gritted teeth.

'Because I need to go on a mission with her, it's a long story'

'So, explain Shorty' a tic mark appeared on Toshiro, but he explained what he had to do, much to his disgust.

'Ok, so why my sister?!' Ichigo was close to exploding.

'Because she's the only human girl I know' Toshiro said sighing at why Ichigo couldn't just tell him where she was.

'And how do _you_ know her, huh?' Ichigo said jabbing him in the chest.

'Because I helped her win a football match against some middle schoolers, again, a long story.'

Ichigo just stood there, tapping his foot in impatience, so Toshiro explained that too, he should make a living out of this.

After a while Ichigo seemed satisfied with his answer, 'Ok, Karin moved out a year ago she lives in an apartment by herself, just round the corner, she said she couldn't put up with dad anymore, and Yuzu left to go to a boarding school in America.'

Toshiro got the address from Ichigo, thanked him, and then went to find her house.

'So did you tell him?' Renji peered round the corner of Ichigo's house, and stared at Ichigo still standing in the middle of the pavement.

'Nah, it's not my job' he said scratching the back of his head, 'but man Matsumoto really knows him well, she knew he would go after her.'

'But of course I did, Tosh just need's some lovin'' Matsumoto said looking down from her perch in a tree.

'NO, no he does not, especially not with MY sister.'

--

Toshiro looked up at the house that had been converted into two apartments. Technically, Karin owned one and, unknown to her, her father paid for the other; to keep Karin happy on her own, and to provide a place for patients if they needed solitude rest.

She lived on the second floor, so he jumped up and landed on the window sill that happened to open into her room.

He jumped into the room carefully, and walked over to her bed, where she was still sleeping.

--

Karin was having a really strange dream; Hollows, shadows and weird creatures that looked like huge dog skeletons, with bits of black flesh and blood dripping off them, and red pinpricks of light in dead eye sockets provided them with sight.

All of these were chasing her down a street until she reached a frosty patch in the road, she tripped. She looked round at the horrors chasing her, but then they skidded to a halt, turned tail and ran away.

She looked round and up and saw a dark, spiky haired, cloaked figure standing on a street light, silhouetted against a full moon. The figure turned round to face her, then turned back and dashed off.

She opened her eyes to see a face with teal green eyes and white hair staring at her.

Her instant reaction was as follows; raise a hand up, curl it into a fist and punch said person squarely in the face.

--

Toshiro was punched up and back to land at the foot of the bed, he clamped his hands over his nose.

It was then that Karin recognised who she had punched; her soccer hero who she had harboured a crush on for about 3 hours, 6 years ago. Then again 4 years ago, when he came to do a sweep of Karakura town and had bumped into her again, only this time he helped her find her cat.

Said cat was snoozing on a pile of laundry in a corner of her room.

'Oh my gosh, Toshiro I'm sorry!' then she thought, _hang on, why am I apologising, he was the one who was watching me sleep!_ She frowned.

'Nice to see you too' Toshiro groaned, as he sat up, stemming the blood flow from his nose and cut lip.

'Don't give me that, why were you watching me while I sleep!'

'I wasn't, I was waiting for you to wake up, and Matsumoto does that to me all the time.' He shrugged and took away his hand when he had stopped bleeding.

'She does, don't you have any rules on gender … mixing?' she didn't know how to explain it, especially to a guy she was attracted to, whilst wearing nothing more than a t-shirt and knickers. Speaking of which …

'Err, Tosh, could you close your eyes a sec?'

'Why?' Toshiro let the nickname drop, for some reason he thought it would be weird for her to call him captain.

Karin sighed, fine, time to blow your mind up, 'because I'm currently wearing a top and knickers and I don't wish to strip with a guy watching in the room.'

Toshiro gawked at her, then suddenly realised where he was staring, _why am I staring at her boobs?!_ He shut his eyes flapped his arms around a bit then fell off the bed.

Karin looked down where he had been staring, and burst out laughing, 'did you get a nice view of my boobs there, Tosh?'

She crawled over to look over the side of the bed; he was on his back, blushing like crazy but had his eyes shut tight. She grinned and proceeded to get changed. When she had put on some decent clothes she walked over to Toshiro, knelt down leaning over his face and poked him.

Toshiro opened his eyes and saw that their noses were nearly touching.

'TOO CLOSE!' he yelled, and Karin snorted with laughter backed off.

'Ok, I've had my fun, so … why are you here, you pervert?'

'I'm not a Pervert!' Toshiro snarled, his cheeks tinting pink again, 'and I came … to ask for your help, well your assistance rather.'

'Oh? And what could I, a human girl, sister to the disobedient Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo, do that, Shinigami Taicho, youngest prodigy of the Gotei 13, Hitsugaya Toshiro, couldn't do on his own.' She asked pleasantly.

'You're enjoying this aren't you?' Toshiro scowled

'Oh yeah' Karin put on a grin that should belong to the devil.

Toshiro sighed and began explaining why he needed her, for the second time that morning, only this time he gave more details.

'Oh, ok then'

'So, will you come with me?'

'I already said 'ok then'' Karin said brightly, 'let me just pack a few things, like food, clothes, emergency stuff, etc.'

'I've already got food; Matsumoto said she didn't want me getting any thinner, so she packed tonnes', he pointed to a duffel bag by the window,' I don't think I'm that thin'.

He looked down and poked his stomach, Karin looked over, _take off your top, take off your top. Take. It. Off._

'Hmm, never mind' Toshiro got off from the floor, walked to the window, pulled out a map and decided a route to get to this mountain the Sotaicho described.

Karin scowled, disappointed, as she pulled clothes out of her wardrobe.

_Damn. _

* * *

**No topless Shiro for you … XP … well not yet anyways .**


	2. Falling

**Karin didn't get what she wanted,  
****and Toshiro is becoming weight conscious XD**

* * *

**Chapter Title; **Falling

Toshiro and Karin arrived at the described set of caves just as the sun was beginning to set. The journey had taken them an entire day and Karin had got steadily colder, due to the fact that she was wearing shorts, as they neared the Mountain Range.

Poor Toshiro was exhausted; it was too dangerous to let Karin climb up, so he had given her a piggy back and had then proceeded to shunpo all the way up.

He dropped Karin down onto her feet, and collapsed, face planting the ground in the process. He turned his head to look down a dark tunnel, which, he supposed, must lead to the catacombs of caves where he would find the item he sought. Karin stepped over him and went to inspect the cave entrance; realising he wasn't there, she looked back at Toshiro who was still hugging the ground.

'Are you getting up any time soon, Tosh?' She enquired, walking back and nudging him with her foot.

He snarled as she prodded him and grabbed her ankle pulling her down to the floor. However, she didn't quite reach the floor; instead she landed face down onto Toshiro's side. He winced as she pulled herself round so she could look over at his face.

'Alright, Tosh, no need to get that eager' she smirked; he frowned and rolled over causing her to face plant the floor instead.

Sniggering he got up and began to walk away, but not before guilt started wreaking havoc on his conscience.

He sighed and walked back to the fallen Karin, offering her a hand to get back up. She took it tentatively, and then she yanked down, causing him to fall to one knee and bit into his arm. He yelped, completely horrified, he thought she had turned into a Zombie.

That was the last time he watched anything on Karin's TV while she was packing. 'Dead Set' was not the ideal thing to watch when you were about to go somewhere completely uninhabited, and rumoured to contain curses. Not that he was liable to such things, but lately his imagination had gone into overdrive.

Karin let go of his arm, sat up and smiled.

'That's better'

'What on earth was that for, you crazed psych-' Karin put a finger to his lips and he felt his blood rush to his face, pigmenting his cheeks once again.

'Now were even, also im curious to see if it would work', taking her finger away

'What would work?'

'You know if you bite a disobedient dog they're supposed to behave'

Toshiro face palmed 'ok 1) I'm not a dog. 2) You have to bite them on the ear'

Karin grinned and leaned closer, 'getting ideas are we?'

Toshiro's brain, which had already been assaulted enough times today, sputtered.

Karin giggled at the puzzled expression on his face, stood up, wandered over to the cave entrance and called back to him.

'It'll be dark soon'

Toshiro jumped, looked around at the darkening sky and followed Karin into the Cave.

_I wonder if she has schizophrenia._

* * *

They had been walking for what felt like miles, they had stopped to rest a fair few times now; clearly this mission wasn't supposed to be easy.

But, in the mean time, they had admired the caverns and tunnels; all of which were layered by ice. The shafts of moonlight, which penetrated the eerie caves walls, speckled and glittered off the icicles and crystals that hung from the ceilings, and towered from the floors.

Soon, however, they had the task back on their minds and picked up the pace.

'Hey, Tosh?'

'Hmm?'

'Sorry about earlier … you know the whole … intimacy thing'

'…'

'I was just playing, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or anything, I was just … making a connection'

'…'

'Tosh, say something!'

'Why are you apologising?'

'Because I feel guilty'

'Why though?'

'Because … because I feel I've made you think something that isn't true'

'… oh', Toshiro tried to freeze his unconcerned expression, but couldn't quite do it and hurt seeped across his face for a minute, before he remembered who was talking to him.

Karin didn't notice, she was too busy looking ahead of them.

'Oh … my … how are we supposed to cross that?!' she pointed to a deep crack that ran along their path.

When I say crack, I mean a crevice, a huge gaping section of their road that just plummeted down.

Toshiro looked down into the gap, and could just make out the bottom, they could survive the fall. That made him feel a bit better, but then he saw what lay on the other side of the gap.

Glowing like a cliché ghost was the object he had been sent for. The orb contrasted greatly with its surroundings; coloured a deep red, it was smooth and untarnished, sitting in claws of ice.

Toshiro turned to Karin who was still staring down into the crack.

'You stay here; I can cross the gap easily, but you…' He sighed.

He turned round, took a few steps back, to give himself room, and then took a running leap. He would have made it, but at the exact moment he pushed off from the edge, the ground shook violently. Toshiro ditched head first into ravine, Karin grabbed the back of his haori in an attempt to stop him, but she weighed less than him and plunged down after him.

* * *

Toshiro woke up groggily.

He put his hands down to lever himself up; his right hand made contact with the hard frozen floor, his left hand pressed down on something squishy and warm.

Toshiro couldn't see anything; it was pitch black, so he felt around a bit with his left hand.

Next thing he felt was a sharp pain on the side of his face, as a hand slapped him. The force of the impact caused him to roll over sideways.

He heard a crack and then a swishing noise; light was being emitted from a glow stick, in a very pissed off Karin's hand.

'Finished feeling me up yet?!' she spat.

'Huh?' Toshiro was completely confused now.

'Don't 'huh' me!' She stood up; an enraged aura enveloped her as she glared down at Toshiro. 'Apparently staring at them wasn't enough for you, you just had to go one step further, and here was me thinking you were different from most guys.'

She whirled round and stormed off, biting back angry and confuse tears.

Toshiro, however, sat there overcome with regret for whatever he had done … then it clicked, he stared down at his hand and gulped.

'KARIN!' He got up and ran after her, he caught up with her in a large cavern that had boulders scattered about here and there.

She stopped.

'Karin please, I didn't know, I didn't mean to. I couldn't see anything I didn't know … it was … you,' he faltered off into silence.

She turned round and hurled the glow stick at him, before trudging on again. He dodged and it skittered along the ground, or what Toshiro had thought to be ground.

As it tumbled across the frosty surface he heard a rumbling and echoing noise come up from beneath the floor. He looked ahead at the floor and saw that some areas were darker than others, his eyes widened in horror.

'Karin, don't move', to his surprise she did as she was told, but really it was the concern in his voice that made him stop.

'Now what?' she said venomously.

Toshiro winced as if she had slapped him again, 'stay where you are, just don't move.'

'What?'

There was a dark patch right beneath Karin, and if his theory was right, which they usually were, she was in a lot of trouble.

Karin grew impatient; whirling round she stomped down on the ground hard with her foot, 'FOR GOD'S SAKE WHAT!?'

The ground beneath her spider cracked and gave way. Or should I say the frozen over, fast flowing river gave way. She plummeted.

* * *

**OMGZ, I've done it again … .**


	3. Rising Moon

**Wow, two chapters for you  
****How lucky ^_^, hmm pity Karin doesn't have much luck  
****Short chapter this, but it's sort of fluff [was listening to Cursed Shinshuu Plains]**

* * *

**Chapter Title;** Rising Moon

By the time Toshiro had managed to run over to where she had been the river had already frozen over.

He panicked, and mindlessly began pattering down on the ice as if he was looking for a dropped key. Then he felt it, a vibration on the ice, Karin was trying to break the surface. He cleared away the ice and frost and looked down into the dark waters to see Karin's terrified face.

He made an oath that he would never let that face adorn her features ever again. She seemed so frail, a complete contrast to her usually confident self. He saw how she was sticking to the same position; a crystal had fallen off the ceiling some time ago and had been stuck in the frozen layer of the river. Karin was clinging to it for dear life.

Toshiro raised his sword and was about to puncture the surface, before he stopped and thought. _If I break the ice, the crystal will be freed and Karin will be swept away and then she'll drown._ But he had no choice; she'd drown if he stood there any longer thinking about it. He swung Hyorinmaru up and then brought it crashing down on the ice.

The Ice shattered, the crystal detached and Toshiro plunged half his body into the freezing water. He snatched Karin from the river's claiming grasp, and pulled her out.

He carried her bridal style to the edge of the river, where he was sure the frosted ground wouldn't give way, and reveal a cursed river beneath its concealing beauty.

He knelt down, holding her in his arms he shook her. She gasped and coughed, and then she opened weary eyes to stare up at Toshiro.

'Toshiro … I'm … I'm so sorry,' she raised a hand to touch his face but she shuddered and fell unconscious again.

* * *

Toshiro wrapped his haori around her, lay her down on the ground and, with some help from his knowledge of kido, made a fire.

He retrieved his and her bags from where they had fallen. He looked up and saw the edge, mocking him as he thought about how close he had been.

He returned to where he had left Karin, and emptying out the bags realised that most of the things inside were soaking wet. _Surely, it doesn't rain in here._

He looked up, nope, defiantly precipitation proof.

He moved Karin onto a layer on blankets, that hadn't got wet, placed on the floor to make sleeping more comfortable, but noticed that she was shivering. Then he realised that her clothes were dripping wet, and they were clogged up with freezing cold water too. Even he felt slight chilly.

He had the idea of taking her clothes off and leaving them to dry and warm up by the fire, but he remembered how she had accused him before for a mere accident. Heaven knows how she would react to something like this.

He glanced back at her, her face was contorted with discomfort and pain; he had no choice. Carefully, he lifted up her top and gently pulled it over her head, trying not to wake her up. He didn't look anywhere but at her face or at what he was supposed to be doing.

He moved away and then tugged off his own Keikogi, but left his Hakama on; Karin would have a heart attack if she woke up and found him wearing nothing but his boxers, and his Hakama weren't even wet. He placed the items of clothing out on the floor to dry, then went back to where Karin was sleeping.

He settled down next to her, pulled a blanket over them both, and then wrapped his arms around her. He rested her head on his neck and he could feel her breathing in his ear. He shared all of the body heat he had with her, so that she didn't die of hypothermia.

As he lay there, he gazed at a puddle on the floor; water steadily dripped into it from a hanging down crystal, which framed the full moon, peering in through a crack in the cavern. The night sky was pure and open; the moon banished away all doubt from Toshiro's mind, and strengthened his resolve, that what he was doing was right.

He closed his eyes and let the gently echoing drip send him off to sleep, the moons glow surrounding them in comforting light.

* * *

A few hours later and Toshiro woke up again, Karin was still fast asleep he noticed, so he carefully lifted her off himself and placed her gently down again.

He got up silently, still under the protecting gaze of the moon, and checked their clothes. They were dry and pleasantly warm.

He sauntered back over to Karin, put her top back on; he felt she might want to wake up with it on, as it had been when she had fallen asleep. He sat back watching her sleep, the blankets rising and falling at a reasonable pace, suggesting that her body temperature was back to normal, and that she was no longer in trouble.

He sighed with relief, and to his surprise he smiled.

He lay back on his own blanket directly beneath the moon, he closed his eyes.

_Hyorinmaru?_

_**Hmm?**_

_Are you ok?_

_**Yes … why wouldn't I be?**_

_Just checking, earlier I hit the ice pretty hard_

_**Hmm, you did, but I can forgive you**_

… _why's that?_

_**Because you were worried about someone you care about a lot**_

… _What do you mean?_

_**And here was me thinking you were a prodigy, come on**_

… _I know what you're thinking and it's not true, so stop with the all knowing and wise tone already_

_**Oh but I do know, and I also know that you will never complete this task until you admit it**_

_What ... what do you mean by that? Hyorinmaru what aren't you telling me?!_

_**You'll see …**_

Toshiro lay there in thought. No matter how loudly he yelled in his mind for the dragon to respond, Hyorinmaru was as deaf as the wind to his pleadings.

Toshiro opened his eyes and stared at the moon, which shone back kindly at him. He had always had a fascination and attraction to the moon, Hinamori had been quick to notice such a thing, and as kids she had often tried to get him to dress up as a wolf. Needless to say he never did, but she had managed to get a pair of ears on him once.

Thinking of Hinamori made him wonder of what was going to happen to her. Was she going to be all right? Or would she eventually crack?

It hurt him to think of her as the girl he had liked a bit more than just a friend, but as a sister, and then to see her wither away in denial.

He wrenched his thoughts away from Hinamori, and focused instead on Karin. _Karin._ What was it about her that made him so … comforted and complete?

_Do I … love her?_

He heard the dragon chuckle softly, in the back of his mind before sleep overcame him once more, just as a cloud obscured the moon.

* * *

***Le Gasp* … ok so it wasn't fluff, more affection and Hyorinmaru is being all cryptic again.**


	4. Celestial Cave

**Aww, Tosh is confused and Karin near but escaped death  
****I would like to thank Mevan, my long time friend, for writing the  
****First section of this chapter, containing the Lemon … so yeah M rated here**

* * *

**Chapter Title;** Celestial Cave

It was like struggling through thick fog, Toshiro thought, this dream. He twitched a little, and rolled onto his side, unconsciously flinging his arm out in the rough direction of Karin.

He twitched in his sleep again, more violently this time, and a small voice at the back of his mind seemed to be chanting, _this is weird, this is weird, what? This is REALLY weird....!_

Karin, her black hair tousled and falling in front of her eyes, was gliding across a room towards where he sat on the smoothly polished edge of a lacquer table. And she was naked, except for a tiny pair of satin knickers and an undone kimono top, her small breasts just peeking out from behind the fabric.

Toshiro stared, transfixed at his friend, and almost horrified that all the blood in his body was rushing away from his head and towards his genitals. Trying to be inconspicuous, he shifted his hands over to his groin, in an attempt to hide his erection. However, Karin noticed the slight movement and grinned devilishly. Like an apparition, she covered the rest of the ground between them so quickly that before Toshiro could draw breath, her smooth chest was at eye-level, and she was beginning to pull open the ties on her top.

_No, no, NO!_ Toshiro screamed in his mind, making him propel himself backwards away from the lustrous orbs that were now in the open air.

His attempt to get away was fruitless, of course. Karin was now leaning over him, one slender leg resting on the table to the right of his left thigh, and her tangy breath tickled his ear as she whispered in a somewhat hurt voice.

"What's wrong? It's not like you don't want this..."

At this, she pressed her body down, so that their exposed chests were touching, and snaked a slightly cold hand down his side to the band of his boxers, leaving a trail of goose bumps across his pale skin. Her hands skipped inside the seam to Toshiro's now rock-hard member, and, as he gasped gutturally when her fingers closed around the full width of it and slid slightly upwards, she brushed the snowy-white strands of his hair with her lips and giggling softly to herself.

After a few more strokes from Karin's gentle and yet incredibly talented hands, Toshiro found himself starting to enjoy the things that she was doing to him, regardless of the fact that she was his friend and that he was 95% sure that he wasn't attracted to her in that way. Gaining a little confidence, he trailed his fingertips down Karin's naked back, tracing the shape of her shoulder-blade with his thumb. Down, down and further down his hand went.

Karin seemed displeased by this unmoving hand, and so reached her own free hand behind her back to take Toshiro's larger hand in her's and thrust it down the front of her ridiculously small pants.

The heat that radiated from her small slit seemed to burn his fingers when he first ventured down between her legs - and it was so wet! He sighed in pleasure, at both the things that he was doing and at what was being done to him - he's never experienced anything like this before.

_Screw that Karin is my friend!_ He somehow managed to think through the cotton-wool junk that his brain seemed to have become.

The large pads of his fingers, soft like the pads of a snow-tiger's paw, rubbed around Karin's 'button' in small circles, delighting in the feeling of her body twitching above his in ecstasy.

This was not right, this was not right at all, and Toshiro _knew_ that he shouldn't be enjoying this so much.... but screw it all. All that was happening now was hands fumbling to yank off underwear, to wrap arms and legs around each other, to bite any available bits of skin near them... And she was grinding down onto his naked erection, and he was slipping into her, and the low table was scraping against the floor, and their breath was coming in short sharp gasps of either pain or lust.

There was fire burning in Toshiro's stomach, and he could feel Karin's stubby fingernails digging into his back so hard that he was sure that there'd be bruises there the next morning.

He woke up, covered in sweat and panting heavily.

* * *

Toshiro bolted up right with a start, _what the hell was that,_ were his first thoughts of the day. The offending sun beamed down into his face as it started rising into the sky, mocking him in his confused state. The next thing he thought was that his boxers were wet … oh god. His first thought was that he had wet himself, not something he wanted to dwell on for too long. So he pushed this rather disturbing thought to the back of his mind, which brought something even more disturbing to the front.

Said thought, or memory as it were, was when Matsumoto had cornered him, in his own office! She had then proceeded to force him to endure a lesson on 'how babies were made'. Toshiro thought she needed a new name for her lesson; 'How to seriously screw with a guys mind in less than hour' seemed about right. But one thing he remembered explained what had just happened to him. He had just had what Matsumoto referred to as a 'Sexy Dream', which was actually a wet dream.

He blushed like crazy, whipped round to make sure Karin was still asleep, who was mere feet away from him, and dashed for clean clothes, hoping against hope he wasn't about to get another erection any time soon.

Hyorinmaru sniggered.

_Piss off!_

_**Oooh, touchy this morning aren't we? What's the matter? Wished it was real?**_

… _Leave me alone_

_**You do, don't you?!**_

_Honestly make up your mind, are you an old git with all of life's mysteries solved, or are you a sneaky little serpent with nothing better to do than poke at fun at me!_

…

_That's better_

_**No … do you sense-**_

_Sense? … Sense what?_

Toshiro reached out with his reiatsu, or at least he tried to and, to his horror, he couldn't feel anything, not even Karin's, which was usually roaring.

He tried to call to Hyorinmaru again, but he received no reply, not even his version of static. He began to panic, he relied on Hyorinmaru's advice and talkback when fighting, and he had seemed cautious when he last heard from him.

He didn't have time to react, Karin began to scream.

He whirled around and saw Karin backing up as fast as she could. Immediately, the image of her advancing on him, her silk kimono falling off her shoulders, plastered itself over his eyes. Toshiro shook his head trying to get rid of the image.

Karin was backing away from the thing that had rounded the boulder she had been using as a head board.

It was the creature from her dreams; Skeletal, dripping flesh and red dot eyes. Hands came down under her arms and pulled her backwards; she scrambled to her feet and turned to face Toshiro. He was staring horrified at the creature, before grabbing hold of her arm and dragging her out across the frozen river. He expertly navigated a safe way over the ice sheet, and got to the other side, however, the creature wasn't as lucky, it crashed through the ice and sank.

Toshiro didn't stop running until Karin pulled his hand off her.

'Tosh! …Why didn't you just kill it?' she shook her head in wonder.

'Because I …' he didn't want to reveal the fact that he had some how lost all of his powers.

'… Never mind it doesn't matter,' she sighed.

Toshiro was busy trying to scour his brain of his dream, which was still raving in his head.

'Look, I've been debating on whether to tell you or not, but I guess I can trust you …'

'…' Toshiro looked at her, confused.

She took a deep breath and said, 'I'm a-'

But she was cut off by the creature breaking through the ice sheet to the side of them. _It swam here?!_ The next thing that happened, however, put things into perspective for Toshiro, he wouldn't need to care for much longer.

The creature lashed out, aiming for Karin, who was nearest, but Toshiro stood in front of her. It sunk its claws into the flesh on his chest, and then swiped them across, leaving three jagged gashes.

Blood spurted out everywhere, and the force of the impact caused him to be thrown back into a wall. The ice cracked behind him and shattered, raining down around him in sheets.

The thing was still struggling to free the rest of its body out of the water; Karin took the opportunity and ran straight for Toshiro, who had left a blood path on the wall as he slid to the floor.

Karin knelt down and pulled Toshiro round, cradling him in her arms.

'Toshiro? Toshiro … wake up,' she shook him gently, and he opened his eyes.

'Karin?'

The creature roared with fury and frustration as it managed to get its other arm free.

'Yeah, I'm here … I'm so sorry,' she traced a line on his forehead, wiping away the strand of hair that hung in front of his face.

'Karin, I'm-'

'Ssh, don't you'll use up any power you have left'

More snarling and ripping noise as the creature got a leg free.

'How do you? …' he groaned and gasped with pain.

'… Tosh?'

He looked up at her and realised, if there was one thing he wanted to do before he died, he would want to do it now.

The creature had all but freed itself, when Toshiro pulled Karin's head down and kissed her. To say that it was surreal wouldn't quite give it justice, but he knew that he couldn't describe it even if he had tried.

Later on in life, he would look back on it like the missing piece of the puzzle had been found. He had done what he had meant to do for so long, even longer than he could remember. As if this entire event had been written in stone, and that his fate had been assured the moment he met her. As if everything had been leading up to this one final act.

He fell back into her arms, lying still and motionless.

Karin screamed with anguish and rage, there was a burst of red light, a flutter of black cloth, and Toshiro's vision and mind failed him.

* * *

*

Drip, Drip … A steady echo of memories past; for he was surely dead.

*

Drip, Drip … Echoing, Echoing … Now where have I heard that before?

*

Drip, Drip … Is it me or is it getting warmer?

*

_**Wake up**_

_Huh?_

_**Wake up, sleepy head**_

_Hyorinmaru, is that you?_

_**Well who else do you know who frequently talks to you from inside your own head?**_

_But … you can talk to me again_

_**Hmm, it seems that a slight connection difficulty may have occurred**_

_What are you, a computer?_

_**No, but I can tell you what you are**_

_Oh, humour me_

_**Someone who is needed, by the girl you love very much**_

'Tosh? … Oh please wake up; don't leave me here on my own ... TOSH PLEASE!'

_**She's calling for you, you know**_

_Why is she so worried?_

_**Oh, just the small thing that she had fallen for you quite some time ago, and you happen to be lying on the ground, lifeless, … coupled with the fact that you kissed her **_

… _I did?_

_**Hmmhm, now go to her, remember she can't feel your pulse…**_

Toshiro opened his eyes, and stared into the deep purple eyes that were Karin's. Tears speckled his face, as her crying from sadness turned to that of relief.

She smiled weakly and hugged him tightly, Toshiro winced expecting pain, only there wasn't that much.

He looked down at his chest and saw bandages that had been wound round his upper body several times.

'Karin, how did you … survive?' Karin looked guilty for a fraction of a second before replying.

'I used Hyorinmaru, I hope you don't mind, it was either that or be eaten alive I'm afraid.'

_**Oh really now? **_

Toshiro ignored the dragon and instead hugged Karin with all his might, he was never letting her go ever again.

* * *

Supporting Toshiro on her shoulder, Karin made her way down a route she had found that led them out into the same tunnel they had started off in. They followed it down until they came into view of the red orb, once again.

This time, however, Toshiro saw no crevice in the floor. Curious, they edged forward, and stretching out a hand, Toshiro pulled the Orb out of the ice claws. Nothing happened.

It was then that Karin noticed the small engravings in the walls of the Orb's little alcove.

There was the moon and a person emitting a sort of light, then next to that there was a depiction of the sun and a person cowering away from it as something seemed be sucked out of him.

On the other side of the alcove there was a person attempting to get the orb, and failing in many different ways; first, he fell down the crack, like they had done. Secondly, vines grew rapidly barring his way and poisoning him if he stung himself. Thirdly, a barrier repelled the person when he got too close. On the Fourth panel the orb had disappeared completely. However, it was the fifth panel that got Karin and Toshiro intrigued; it showed two people holding hands, and one of them reached out and claimed the orb, they left unscathed.

Under all of this where the words;

THIS IS THE MYSTERY OF CELESTIAL CAVE

* * *

**Now let's see who can guess what the pictures mean, shall we?**


	5. Lustful Creatures

**Chapter Title;** Lustful Creatures

The return trip had been an easy enough ordeal, flushed with success he had agreed to Karin's offer of coming back to her house, only this time through the front door.

He picked up a Gigai from Urahara's saying that it was about time he had a damn break.

Karin couldn't help but think about what Toshiro had done; he had saved her, twice, and he had kissed her. Granted he thought he was dying, but still, let a girl dream. That's all Karin thought this could ever be, a dream.

She sighed into Toshiro's neck; yes she was yet again getting a piggy back only this time she was being carried up the stairs of her house.

Toshiro shuddered suddenly, and rolled his shoulders back.

'Please don't do that again, Karin, I might drop you.'

Karin could decide whether he was pissed off at her or whether he was offering genuine advice. Needless to say she practically held her breath up the rest of the stairs. She handed him the keys over his shoulder and, shifting her weight slightly, he opened the door.

Karin let him go and dropped to the floor with a soft thump. She turned round to see Toshiro still standing in the door way.

**Karin's POV;**

'You can come in you know, I don't bite,' _honestly he needs to loosen up, maybe I could help out with that at some- *slap* no stop it, Karin, this is just hormones acting up, it's your age, it'll … die … down …_

I looked back at Toshiro, who seemed very interested in my home. He had made his way over to the TV which had a DVD case lying open on top of it, a DVD I had never got round to watching.

I walked up behind him, and poked him in his sides. He jumped then whirled round scowling and also, dare I say it, blushing? I looked at the DVD he was holding. It was V for Vendetta, one of my favourites.

'Have you ever watched it?'

He gave me one of those looks that made me feel like and idiot, while at he same time he seemed to be 'pitying' my lack of understanding. Seriously, one of these days I was gonna snog that look clean off his- _wait, snog? No, no there will be no snogging involved, where the fuck did that come from?_

I must have started blushing because Toshiro looked rather concerned, and put out a hand and started caressing my cheek, which made me heat up all over, and go an even deeper shade of red. _Thank god… it's getting dark._

'Are you ok? You seem a little flustered and … distracted,' Toshiro said, he looked like a confused puppy at this stage.

_God, he's attractive AND cute! … For heavens sake, Karin, rein in your feelings, don't let it ruin anything._

'No, I'm fine, just don't give me that face when I asked you a perfectly reasonable question'

'Yes, but for me, it isn't that reasonable, I mean how could I have watched it?'

'At Orihime's? Don't tell me Matsumoto doesn't get bored'

'….' Toshiro looked guiltily at the floor, _ha, that kicked your sorry ass._ 'Sorry, I guess you're right,' _fuck, you're supposed to be the one guilt tripping, not me!_

I frowned slightly, took the disc out of his hand and put it into the DVD player. Returning to Toshiro and I jerked my head over to the sofa, and grabbed a blanket on my way over.

I settled down on one side of the sofa, throwing the blanket over myself, while Toshiro scrunched up under the blanket at the other end. _Tch! Freakin' antisocial, totally gorgeous … god damn it!_

**Toshiro's POV;**

'You can come in you know, I don't bite,' _Don't think it Toshiro, don't think –_ an image of her body pressed up against his biting his neck and running her smooth hands all along his body couldn't help but make it debut. _Aww shit, quick DO SOMETHING._

She looked back at me, but I had already turned away and was feigning interest in where she lived. I made my way over to the TV which had a case lying open on top of it, the disc lying inside read 'V for Vendetta'. Was this someone's more graphic version of the alphabet?

She must have walked up quietly behind me because next thing I knew pressure was being exerted on my sides. I must have lit up like a freakin' Christmas tree; my sides, and hips for that matter, were one of the most ticklish areas on my entire body. _Thank god my experiences of being a Taicho granted me the ability of self discipline, I dread to think what would have happened if I had … _I better stop there.

'Have you ever watched it?'

Startled I tried to comprise my expression into that of incredulity, only I have the feeling it went slightly off, because she started to go red. _Shit, what facial expression did I just pull?_

I was worried about her, she seemed a little distant, so I put a hand to her cheek to bring her back to this planet. She looked at me even redder_._

'Are you ok? You seem a little flustered and … distracted,' I hoped that she wasn't going red because she was angry, maybe I was being too patronizing.

_Back away from the girl, Toshiro_, but I rather liked this contact with her. Regretfully I dropped my hand to my side again.

_**Have you perhaps considered the fact that you're still alive is a hint that you are not making her angry?**_

_Ok 1) butt out of it, it's none of your business 2) why else would she be going red like that, she's not ill is she?_

_**1) It IS my business, your hormones are creating one hell of a global warming crisis in here 2) why else do YOU go red like that?**_

_... Oh_

'_**Oh' indeed.**_

'No, I'm fine, just don't give me that face when I asked you a perfectly reasonable question'

'Yes, but for me, it isn't that reasonable, I mean how could I have watched it?'

_Sure you don't want to swing that last one by me again?_

'At Orihime's? Don't tell me Matsumoto doesn't get bored'

_**Man did she just kick your ass, and no pretty sure, just wait**_

'….' Damn it, that smart ass dragon had all the fucking cards and he wasn't showing me one of them, 'Sorry, I guess you're right.'

She frowned slightly, took the disc out of his hand and put it into the DVD player. She returned and jerked her head over to the sofa, grabbing a blanket on her way over. _Wait, what the hell? … *slap* come one think straight, she's not gonna be into that just yet is she? Sure I kissed her but … holy shit I kissed her!_

_**Ding Dong! Well done smart ass**_

She settled down on one side of the sofa, throwing the blanket over herself, not wanted to invade her personal space I snuggled up the other end.

_**Damn you're boring!**_

_Shut it …_

* * *

It was nearly the end of the movie and the character known as 'V' was kicking some serious ass.

Neither of them had noticed but during the movie they had got considerably closer together on the sofa, so that they now sat in the middle of the sofa, Toshiro staring in fascination at the screen, while Karin was doing likewise whilst leaning on his arm.

_Seriously, I need to kiss him/her, if I don't I'm gonna explode_

Then something happened, something neither of them was expecting, except Hyorinmaru. Toshiro leant down and kissed Karin. It had taken all of his self restraint not to lunge, and it had taken all of Karin's will power not to pin him to the sofa.

It had meant to be quite innocent and quick, only both of them seemed to like what they were doing. Karin brought her body up rubbing against Toshiro's, deepening the kiss for all she was worth, and weaving her fingers up into his hair. While her hands moved north, Toshiro's moved south, ending up securing themselves around her waist.

* * *

The sunlight peeking cheekily into the room was what awoke Toshiro. He stretched and made contact with a certain warm something, lifting the covers he stared at the wonder that was sleeping next to him. The memories of last night came back in an all too comforting and enveloping way. He settled back down next to her, wondering what they could do today.

Then, panic flooded his entire body. _Yeah, here's a clue, delivering that bloody sphere is what will be done today, that's if the Sotaicho doesn't catch wind of the fact I just had sex with a human._

He thought for a while as what would be best to do. He continued to think as he carefully lifted himself off the sofa and got dressed again. Then one solution hit him, and it made him cringe. He knew he was cold, so that part wouldn't be hard, but this was just cruel, but he couldn't see any other way.

He gazed back at Karin who was smiling peacefully in her sleep. _Oh my god, what am I going to be putting her through?_

_**You should have thought about that before you let your emotions get control of you**_

Toshiro didn't even have the motivation to argue.

* * *

Karin woke up happy, she didn't open her eyes just yet, savouring those moments she had shared with Toshiro the previous night. She reached out and arm to touch him, only she met thin air. She opened her eyes and saw plenty of blanket and sofa, but no Toshiro.

She smirked and whirled round to look over the sofa, but he wasn't there either.

Starting to feel worried, she got up, dressed and searched the entire flat; still no sign of him. She had nearly given up when she saw a piece of paper attached to the door. She pulled it off and read it.

_Karin, _

_I have gone back to Soul Society, don't look for me_

_- Toshiro_

Karin felt hot tears shed themselves from her eyes and fall onto the piece of paper. _How could he? After what we shared yesterday, how could he just leave like that, not even bothering to wait for me to wake up?_

'"Don't look for me" my ass, like hell I'm looking for you' she said gritting her teeth.

* * *

Toshiro was walking past the road railing were he had first met Karin, his white haori billowing in the breeze, when he heard his name being called out.

He turned round to see Karin, tears flying about her, profanities escaping her mouth like acid, running up the hill towards him. When she reached him she raised back a hand and brought it sharply round Toshiro's face. He deserved that, he knew he did.

'Why the fuck did you just leave like that Tosh?'

'That's Toshiro at least to you' he snapped. Restraint thread no. 1, snapped; twang.

Karin looked as if she had just been slapped in the face too.

'Why … why would you leave me after … after the best night of my life?' tears were streaming down her face, but Toshiro's face was unreadable and grafted in ice.

'Because it wasn't for me' he didn't know how much more he could do this.

Then a killer, Karin wore the face she had as she struggled for air under that sheet of ice, the one he had vowed never to adorn her face ever again. Restraint thread no. 2, snapped.

'What? … Wasn't I …' she couldn't even finish the sentence, she knew it, she had done all along, he just viewed her as a ordinary human girl, and last night was nothing special to him, just a means of releasing pent up energy.

'You bastard, I never thought you were like that Tos- Hitsugaya'

That did it, the formal use of his name; the final and last restraining thread, Toshiro had been fighting so long, broke.

'I'm not alright!' he buried his face in his hands, so much for that plan. _What have I done?_

'What?' Karin was now just stunned, Toshiro raised his head.

'I lied ok, everything I just said was a downright lie, last night was the best experience in my sad excuse for a life, and I would do it again, I would so do it again with you Karin, I really would.'

Karin blushed, _he enjoyed it?_ She couldn't help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but then back to the situation at hand.

'Then why the lies?'

'Because I needed you to hate me, so you would move on and find someone else … I love you Karin, I really do, but … ' he looked up ' I'm dead, and not only is it impractical it's also against the law from Soul Societies point of view.'

'So?' Karin was almost hysterical, from relief that what Toshiro had said had been a lie and anger about the audacity Soul Society seemed to have.

'Karin, I may be a captain, but that only makes my situation worse, I would probably be killed, and god knows what they would do to you, without me out of the way, I … I just ... I can't'

He placed a hand under her chin and raised her head up, 'I'm sorry.'

Karin wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace, 'I love you Toshiro'

'I love you too'

They stood there a while in each other's arms, then a couple of Hell butterflies flew past him.

His eyes widened in horror, as he felt, rather than heard, a Senkei Gate forming behind him.


	6. Hitsugaya Deceived

**Who came through the portal?**

* * *

**Chapter Title;** Hitsugaya Deceived

Toshiro's breathing shuddered to a stop as he felt the reiatsu that was stepping out from the Senkai gate.

'N-no …' Toshiro gulped, and quickly released Karin.

Sensing his sudden change in reiatsu levels, Karin assumed that whoever was about to appear from that gate could spell life or death for Toshiro. She smartly stood to attention by his side, almost mockingly.

'Hitsugaya Toshiro' said a low drawling voice. The Sotaicho himself, as well as his lieutenant and Ukitake, his _favourite_ shinigami captain.

'Sotaicho' replied Toshiro, gritting his teeth waiting for his next move, and a whole lot of explaining.

'What exactly were you doing just now?' the Sotaicho raised an eyebrow at them, looking from Toshiro to Karin.

'We were just saying goodbye, you know us Kurosaki's, we like to be thanked and all that' she said quickly, before Toshiro could so much as open his mouth, but there was also a hint of sarcasm behind her words.

'Oh, I see, is it custom for humans to proclaim their love for the other, and have it received when saying goodbye?' The Sotaicho's word were laced with nitro-glycerine.

_Shit._ Toshiro inwardly winced at his words, _he heard that? Well_ _this isn't over yet_.

'That would be my fault; I have stayed here for too long and her ways seemed to have rubbed off on me – they're just words, there was no meaning behind them.'

It hadn't worked fully, Toshiro knew that, but the Sotaicho's spiritual levels decreased slightly. Toshiro was impressed that Karin wasn't choking on the floor by this stage, in fact she seemed perfectly fine, still standing. But she also had a hurt look on her face, but unfortunately there was no way for him to convey his feelings about what he had just said. He would just have to hope that she remembered what they did last night to assure her.

'I see, however this is not the reason I came here, I assume you have something for me.' The Sotaicho opened his eyes expectantly.

'Hai, Sotaicho' Toshiro rummaged in his robes and pulled out the blood red orb.

Ukitake groaned audibly.

'Hitsugaya Toshiro, I am hereby placing you under arrest for having relations with a human'

Toshiro's eyebrows shot up, he dropped the orb onto the ground, it smashed into a million pieces like so many water droplets, stained by sunset rays.

'W-what?' Toshiro stammered, then he jerked round as several shinigami from the royal guard surrounded him.

A couple grabbed Karin and held her arms behind her back, as she struggled to reach Toshiro. Toshiro was brought down to his knees, hands tied behind his back, and his head was forced back to look up at the Sotaicho.

'Such disappointment Hitsugaya Toshiro – you were ever so promising, obedient and loyal to the end. So many successful missions, only to be brought down by this one.'

Toshiro just stared back at him, confused anger registered across his face, as the Sotaicho stared back.

'I sent you on a mission to retrieve this 'sacred' object. It is not sacred at all. I had Mayuri create it for me, for this exact purpose. I had members of the Royal Guard place some demon magic, on the area surrounding the orb, it's place in the cave. This orb is designed so that it can only be retrieved by those who feel compassion and love for another. Another that accompanies you at the time, and such compassion is not unrequited. By bringing this back to me, it is proof enough to me that you share more than just friendly feelings for this girl here, and she with you. Correct me if I'm wrong, Hitsugaya Toshiro, but is she not Kurosaki Ichigo's sister?'

Toshiro's eyes widened in shock, and he looked at the floor. He was so fucked. There was no way he could get out of this one, but one thing was for sure. He had been tricked.

'Do you deny it?' The Sotaicho pressed.

'….' Toshiro just stared at the floor.

'Well?'

'No.'

Ukitake groaned again, and held his head in his hands. Karin snarled and growled as she tried to resist her restraints.

'Then you are to be placed under arrest and await your sentence. Do you have anything to say for yourself?'

'Yes, I do …. you punish me for falling in love, and yet you tricked and deceived one of your own Taichos, just to find this out. What do you expect me to say?' he snarled bitterly, holding back angry tears as he stared straight into the Sotaicho's unforgiving eyes.

'Take him to the Taicho's hall, to await judgement.'

* * *

So now Hitsugaya Taicho was standing in the hall, the other Taicho's eyeing him suspiciously – no doubt they had heard all about his little scandal. Hitsugaya was staring resolutely at the floor, while the other Taichos either sighed or tutted. He didn't care.

He didn't care that his captaincy would probably be stripped away, nor did he care that somehow Unohana had figured he did more than just hug and kiss Karin.

No, what really made his blood boil was the fact that he had been tricked – tricked and deceived by the man he had sworn unwavering loyalty to. It had never occurred to him that he may not receive the same in return.

Then there was Karin. Not only had he not been allowed to say goodbye to her, or even explain what might happen, the restraining shinigami had hit her. Hit her to reinforce their command on the situation. He hadn't liked that. So let's just say that those guards wouldn't be winning any 'Best Looking Shinigami' contests in a while. Straight punch in between the eyes for one, and an uppercut to the nose for the other.

_That was another reason why I might happen to be here_, he mused.

The list just got bigger. Soon they'd use the 'he abandoned his post to seek out a friend' case, that had been bantered about quite a lot since it had happened a few years ago. Apparently Shinigami held grudges rather well.

'Hitsugaya Toshiro, you are here for the following offences'

_Christ_, he thought, _he's got a whole freakin' list._

'…- and the attack on two members from the Royal Guard'

Hitsugaya merely grunted.

'Do you have anything to say in front of these witnesses?'

'Hmm … I think so' he turned round to face them, 'don't make the same mistake I did.'

'Very well, you see the crux of your actions.'

'that's not what I meant.' Hitsugaya said, Ukitake shook his head slightly, pleading with his eyes that he would hold his tongue, but Hitsugaya wasn't going to do as he was told, 'I meant don't make the same mistake by following you.'

All the Taicho's in the room seemed to stop breathing, even Zaraki looked shocked.

'I see, well I'm afraid that you will have to keep living that mistake for another good few years,' the Sotaicho said, raising his head from thought.

Hitsugaya merely looked shocked, 'what do you mean? My captaincy is being stripped isn't it?'

'No, we have decided not to punish you by removing your Captaincy – you worked long and hard for that rank, and you have shown good deeds under the Gotei 13. You will remain as the Juubantai Taicho.'

'….then what's my punishment?' Hitsugaya asked, leaving out his gratitude, which he was not entirely feeling yet.

'You are hereby forbidden to enter the human world under any circumstances.'

'WHAT?!' Hitsugaya looked like he could cry, this wasn't fair, it wasn't his fault for falling in love, he couldn't control it. Why was this happening?

'Please Sotaicho, remove me of my Captaincy, anything, just don't forbid me from going to the human world … you can't'

'I think you'll find that I can Hitsugaya _Taicho_.'

Hitsugaya nearly just crumpled to the floor, nearly. He didn't need to fall any further than he already had in the eyes of his fellow Taichos.

'Can't …Can't I even just say goodbye?'

'No. that is my final word. Your punishment acts as of now. You are Dismissed.'

Hitsugaya was gone before the other Taichos blinked.

* * *

'ARGH!' Hitsugaya was doing what he did best – releasing his pent up energy and frustration on a helpless tree.

'Why? …. WHY?!' he hit the tree with his bare fist. The tree froze and splintered upon impact. Several slivers of tree bark imbedded themselves into his knuckles.

'Taicho?' he recognised that voice, but he did not want her there right now.

'Taicho?' her voice was getting louder.

He shunpo'd off, but a figure lunged and brought him crashing back down to the ground.

He raised himself off the ground with his arm, gasping for breath.

'Matsumoto, get the hell off!'

'No' she hugged his waist even tighter.

Hitsugaya winced, and gritted his teeth. He tried to wriggle free but Matsumoto was having none of it. She pushed him down onto the ground and promptly sat on his back.

'Argh, get off!', He struggled some more, but then mental and physical exhaustion caught up with him.

He lay still, and Matsumoto got off to kneel beside him instead. She pulled the strand of hair that always fell in front of his face away to look at his eyes. They were dead and vacant, he had just given up.

'Oh Taicho, look at the state your in.'

Hitsugaya merely swallowed and rolled onto his back, looking up at the darkening sky.

'They didn't even let me say goodbye…' he said finally.

Matsumoto hated it to see him like this.

You might not be able to, but I can, right?'

Hitsugaya looked up at her in surprise, she just smiled and winked at him.

* * *

Matsumoto knocked on the Kurosaki residence door. She stepped back as the door opened and Ichigo looked straight back at her.

'Geez, 'bout time someone came, Karin's been-' He jumped out of the way as Karin hurtled out of the house, crying.

'Hey, Karin' Ichigo went to pull her back, but Matsumoto had already pulled her into her embrace.

'I'm so sorry Karin, but I have something for you.'

'_Ok, tell her I'm sorry, but from now on I can no longer go to the human world. I'm not hurt and apart from that nothing has changed. But I can't keep sending you to give her messages, so this will be it. Oh and this,' _

_He reached up and kissed Matsumoto. Saying she was shocked would be an insult, her brain had pratically imploded. He pulled away after what felt like years._

'_Oh, tell her I love her too, won't you?'_

'_After that Taicho, I don't think she'll need those words.'_

_Hitsugaya had merely smiled, just._

Matsumoto pulled away from a slightly brain dead Karin.

'I told him that a kiss from me wouldn't do any good, but it's the best we can do im afraid.'

Karin looked up at her and she gave her a small smile.

'I hope you can move on, I really do, it's not fair I know. Just, whatever you do, don't try and come for him, he probably be killed, or worse, you will.'

Karin's smile slowly faded as Matsumoto turned round, waved goodbye to a startled Ichigo and opened a Senkei, disappearing from the human world.

* * *

**Oh am I a bitch or what?**

**Sorry for the long wait, been complicated down my end =_=**


	7. Masked Hero

**I have deleted Chapter 1,  
****I wasn't happy with it after reading it again, plus it confuses people as this is a prequel**

* * *

**Chapter Title;** Masked Hero

_One Year Later_

Hitsugaya was absent mindedly flicking through some paperwork Matsumoto had _kindly_ given him as a present – but quite frankly he couldn't be arsed to do it right now.

He sighed.

He had been doing that a lot lately; Matsumoto said she needed to take him drinking with her, Ukitake insisted it was because he needed candy, and Renji plainly put it that he needed to get laid. He hadn't mentioned that had already been taken care of once before, no-one knew except for Unohana, who could just tell from his reiatsu patterns.

'_How do you-… wait, I don't want to know' Hitsugaya looked at the floor._

'_It's quite simple really, as a healer I also have to be able to understand people state of mind and psychology. Your mind affects your reiatsu patterns. Before your reiatsu was sharpened and brittle, fracturing often. But now it curves and flows like water, but it is not frail or wispy, no, it's strong and growing.'_

_She walked away from him, then she stopped._

'_A bit like you really.'_

_Strong and Growing_ were the particular words used to describe him, huh? At the moment he was very close to just having a nap on his desk.

However, whenever his consciousness failed him, the nightmares were always sure to get him. No-one knew about his 'nightmares', he had never had nightmares before.

He had come down with a fever shortly after the fiasco a year ago, and Unohana said it was because part of his soul was missing. Matsumoto had been very close to storming up to the Sotaicho and giving her a piece of his mind. It had taken Shunsui and Ukitake, holding on to her pink scarf, to change her mind. It was all his fault, his fault for taking Karin away from her precious Taicho. But that hadn't been the only thing Unohana had noticed. On his neck, where it met with his shoulders, there was a tiny mark, it would have been missed if Unohana hadn't gone to check his spirit flow [pulse for humans]. It was a moon, a crescent moon, with a tiny dragon flying round it – It was so small it could be made into a stamp.

Hitsugaya nightmares consisted of three things – a black haired version of him self, a clear night sky, and Karin being stabbed through the chest. She would fall backward off of a balcony and fall into a huge lake below. He would dive off the edge just as he heard a merciless laugh. Karin's hand was clutched in his own, but her weight dragged him down as he tried to reach the surface. The next minute she was gone and a pair of golden eyes, belonging to his black haired look a like, stared at him in panic as he drowned in the iced over lake.

Hitsugaya had bolted upright suddenly out of his fever, scaring Matsumoto and Ukitake to near hysteria. Hitsugaya had looked confusedly at the wall ahead of him for a while, before flopping back on his pillow, breathing heavily.

Needless to say, he had not told anyone about said nightmare.

But seeing Karin die like that, and dying himself could not just be shrugged off, no matter what type of person you were. It worried him for a long time.

Now he was simply erked by it. He had seen the same scenes, heard the same sounds, felt the emotions every time he had woken up gasping for breath, he could write a book about it. In fact, that's what he did do in the end. He hid it very carefully of course, and got suspicious of anyone who came close to finding it whilst looking for something else.

He sighed again and looked out through the window.

_What does it mean?_

_**Now, if I told you that, my source of entertainment would die out**_

_TELL ME NOW_

_**Screaming won't get you anywhere my little master**_

_*sigh* fine, you will kindly please tell me what's going on_

_**I'm afraid I can't, besides Kazan Yamaneko would burn me alive I did**_

… _who's Kazan Yamaneko?_

_**You mean you didn't notice? And I thought you were just good at acting**_

… _explain. Now._

_**Yes your highness … but first we must train, it's been so long and I'm growing old.**_

Hitsugaya knew that a shinigami's Zanpaktou will grow older the longer it goes unused for. So he agreed, although being called 'your highness' annoyed him beyond reason, and he told Hyorinmaru so.

He just chuckled knowingly, as per usual.

* * *

Hitsugaya realised that he had not trained in some time, as such his skills had been affected badly. However, he quickly re-established and further honed his abilities.

_**Hmmm, good. Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?**_

_Huh?_

_**Come on, out with it, it's not just the nightmares… so what else?**_

_There's nothing else._

_**...**_

_Hyorinmaru?_

But Hyorinmaru was no longer in the white wilderness of the snow storm that was raging it's tyranny in Hitsugaya's soul – He was roaring before him, real as flesh.

'DO NOT INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE!' Hyorinmaru opened it's mouth wide, brought it's head back mouth glowing, then he snapped his head forward again shooting a mass of freezing reiatsu straight for Hitsugaya.

He dodged and rolled behind a tree.

Hyorinmaru growled, and snaked his tail around the tree and Hitsugaya. He ripped the tree out of the ground, and squeezed.

Hitsugaya felt immense pain around his stomach and last ribs, if this kept up he would have several ruptured organs.

'Why are you doing this to me?' he gasped.

But Hyorinmaru ignored him. He slammed Hitsugaya to floor with his tail, the tree shattered upon impact. Hitsugaya was being forced into the ground under Hyorinmaru's solid body weight. Blood erupted from his mouth as he felt at least three ribs give way.

Hyorinmaru had never attacked him like this, they had their arguments of course, but he had never been attacked by him, nor had he felt this scared by him.

'TELL ME! ADMIT IT!' Hyorinmaru roared.

But Hitsugaya could barely croak, his head fell back onto the ground and his eyes closed.

Hyorinmaru stopped applying pressure, and lifted his snowy haired master up to eye level. He shook him, to bring his attention back to the present issue at hand.

'Why?' said the wise dragon.

'Why what?' gasped Hitsugaya.

'Why won't you just admit it?'

'I have nothing to admit'

Wrong answer.

Hyorinmaru dropped Hitsugaya, he screeched with alarm as he hurtled downwards. Hyorinmaru grabbed his ankle just as Hitsugaya's head was a foot about the ground. They both heard a loud crack; Hitsugaya's ankle had just snapped.

'Why?'

'Ergh!' Hitsugaya grunted as he flailed around a while, trying to get free.

Hyorinmaru brought him back up to eye level as Hitsugaya's attempts petered off through pure exhaustion. He turned him round slowly, so they could see eye to eye. The dragon exhaled exasperatedly, making the white haired prodigy sway slightly.

Hitsugaya was bruised everywhere, and his hair had blood in it, plus he looked just plain fed up. Hyorinmaru jolted him slightly, like a child trying to make a pet move.

'Why?'

'I don't know why?' Toshiro groaned.

Another jolt.

'What now'?

'Same question,' Hyorinmaru said.

'I - …' he was now having trouble remaining awake.

'Why?'

'I don't-'

'why?'

'Just wai-'

'WHY?'

'I'M SCARED!' Hitsugaya breathing heavily, and then hung loosely in the dragons grasp.

He was suddenly flipped the right way round, and landed on Hyorinmaru's broad tail, still eye level with the icy manifestation.

'Of what?'

'… I'm scared that … that Karin will stop loving me … I know I said for her to move on, I hoped that I'd stop loving her, but I never did. I know it's selfish of me, when she has a whole life ahead of her, but the thought of her loving someone else, and that she'll forget about me … I don't … I love her too much.'

Hyorinmaru cradled the hurting Taicho in his icy coils.

'I want you to do something for me'

'hmm?' Hitsugaya murmured looked up at his Zanpaktou spirit.

'Activate your Bankai' the dragon said, placing Hitsugaya on the floor once more and disappearing.

'What?'

_**Just do it**_

Hitsugaya did as he was told and activated his Bankai. But it wasn't the same Bankai that he had previously.

The wings were more intricate and had little ice crystals forming delicate feathers along the membrane. The ice crawled over his arms and under his Keikogi and Hakama forming clawed hands and feet, the tail was thinner and longer than before. The ice kept flowing and went straight over his face, freezing his hair into solid tufts of white. The ice formed a dragon snout and off shoots of ice where his ears were, the ice left space around his eyes, but grew dragon horns, off his forehead, jutting backwards.

When Hitsugaya felt the ice stop he opened his eyes, looked down at himself and gasped. He appeared to be an ice blue dragon, and the ice was holding his injuries at bay.

'I'm… this is my true Bankai?'

His gaze fell on a puddle of rain water to his right, he dashed over to it.

He looked into his reflection to see a face, masked by ice with dragon features, stare back at him. His Taicho haori had changed too, it was now a negative of the original and more of a cloak, that draped over his shoulders, round to his front, and fixed together with a tiny dragon emblem by his collar bone.

_**Now, go rescue your 'damsel in distress'**_

* * *

Karin was annoyed. Today was supposed to be her 19th birthday, but she didn't want to celebrate it at all.

She had just dumped yet another useless boyfriend who didn't seem to understand they should only date _one_ girl at a time. No body could ever compare to … him.

She had tried to move on, she really had, but he always lingered in the back of her mind, in a 'what if he hadn't left' sort of way. She just felt so frustrated, as if she had been waiting for him for more than just a year, but lifetimes, and now he was gone forever.

She kicked a rock and it skittered out of view, she followed it. It was very dark but she could still see the rock on the path ahead of her. She was in the park, the place where she always sought refuge, but tonight she should have been somewhere else, anywhere but there.

She heard a rustling in the trees, and saw the boy she had just dumped. He sneered at her. She figured he had come to insult her, she was wrong, he had come to do much more than that.

He lunged, pinning her to a tree. He yanked on Karin's wrist and successfully managed to dislocate one of her arms. She screamed, he just sniggered.

'Regretting it yet?'

She looked back at him, her face full of fury, she hated being unable to fight back, and hated how she had been caught off guard.

He then proceeded to run his hands all over his body – another reason she had ditched him, no respect for the female body. Then she felt his hand press against her breast, she wasn't happy with this. Oddly enough she was reminded off when Toshiro had done the same back at the cave. Although she had known he didn't know what he was doing, she couldn't help but find it rather nice, which had then made her angry and poor Toshiro had got the blame for it.

Her mind had not been in the present time, but it was soon reeled back when her ex proceeded to unzip her shorts. Her breathing stopped as she finally clicked just what he had in mind.

She began to struggle, but unfortunately with her arm as it was he was stronger than her. She went to knee him in a guys sensitive area, but he dodged and smirked.

'Getting antsy aren't we?'

He ripped away her shorts and went to undoing her darted shirt. She went to shout for help but he pressed his lips against hers to quiet her. She felt sick. She had never been taken advantage of when she had been with Toshiro, not once. Why couldn't she meet a guy like him again?

Her shirt was open revealing her black and red bra underneath which matched her girl boxers. About to claim his prize, the offender dipped his head in to suck at her neck, but instead he felt a sickening pain hit the back of his head.

He reared back and Karin sank to the base of the tree, staring at what had just hit him.

A cloaked figure with a dragon ice mask covering his face stood in the shadow of a tree. It ran a clawed hand over a tree trunk, leaving three long gauge marks in the bark.

To the boy however it seemed as though the marks appeared all by themselves.

'Shit! … what is this place.'

He gave one final venomous look at Karin before he legged it.

Karin studied the figure who drew closer to her, normally a person would recoil, but she saw no reason to be afraid. This person had just saved her.

'Who are you?' she whispered.

The person did not say anything, merely knelt down, took a look at her shoulder, placed a twig in her mouth, and thrust her arm up back into her shoulder. She bit down on the twig which shattered in two.

'Oh … ouch … that's what the twig was for … ow'

The figure looked down at the broken twig, then back up at Karin, or rather Karin's forehead. He raised an icy clawed hand and put it to her head. The effect was instantaneous. Cool tendrils of reiatsu seeped through her skin and into every fibre of her body, soothing her from the inside out. The claws were removed far too soon, leaving her in a dream like state.

The figure got up and began to walk away.

'Hey!'

He turned and put a claw to his muzzle or snout, whichever dragons have, then pointed to her and then pointed down at the ground, which signalled to Karin as '_wait here quietly'_.

He was about to turn again, when the moon shone through a cloud and illuminated the figures features, making them sparkle and glitter. She saw the black cloak flutter and caught sight of a white marking on the back, but she couldn't discern what it was. He wore traditional shinigami's clothes, but every inch of him seemed to be made from ice, or was covered in it. Even his white hair had frozen. White Hair.

The small sliver of green that she saw in the persons eyes jolted her to the soul.

'Toshiro?'

It's gaze stayed locked on her for a few seconds before he vanished.

* * *

**Ta-Da?**

**Did I have fun writing this chap or what … reviews please, I like reviews, they make me happy and keep me writing.**


	8. Revelations

**I have a cold and it's the holidays,  
so I wrote another chapter, lucky you.**

* * *

**Chapter Title;** Revelations

Hitsugaya knew he shouldn't be doing this, but he had no choice, and just as well too. He dread to think what would have become of her if he hadn't appeared when he did.

It was just unfortunate that she recognised him, even behind this mask. Now he only had until sunrise to get out of the living world, but first he had to make sure Karin was taken care of.

He was walking quietly along the streets leading to the Kurosaki Clinic, where Ichigo would surely be. He decided that flying would be much faster, he hadn't flown in a long time, and deep down he missed it.

He stretched out his wings to their fullest extent, bent low and propelled himself up, high into the night sky. These wings were even better at flying than his last ones were. As they were less bulky and more streamlined, riding air currents and staying in the air was less exhausting and much more calming. Plus, due to the fact that he had trained himself to fly with wings that handicapped him more than these ones, he found that flying was now a second nature to him.

'I'm actually turning into a dragon' He whispered to the clouds.

He soared above Karakura, thinking back to the time Aizen had made is appearance here, and had tried to destroy it. At the time Hitsugaya had been furious that he would destroy an entire town and thousands of lives, just to make the King's Key for his own benefit. But now, he saw it as a great shame.

The world looked so different from a flying point of view. All the little houses, each with their own occupants living their daily lives. All the families happily living, unaware how close they had come to total annihilation.

Aizen had retreated when he lost interest in his goal, as his carefully built army started to crumble before him. His _loyal_ minions started to turn on him after a while, once they sure the determination the shinigami showed. Unfortunately, Hitsugaya had not seen the victorious moment when they disappeared. That arrancar Halibel had torn him up and shattered his Bankai. He had fallen out of the sky due to his lack of wings, with just enough power left he had created a patch of thick snow to cushion his fall, before he fainted.

He saw a pair of humans shepherding their children inside. He suddenly felt a pang of sadness and regret. He had never had parents to welcome him home into their loving arms, none of his fellow shinigami had. Yet, he knew that he had once, a long, long time ago, but he had never had time to dwell on those sorts of things. So he did the only thing he knew; cut himself off from emotions completely.

Now, as he looked down at the town that they had defended, and how their determination had unnerved the Arrancar, he realised how much emotions mattered. How much had he missed? Then again, wasn't it his emotions and feelings for Karin that were driving him to do this? To directly disobey an order from the Sotaicho, for her?

'I've only known her here and there. So why the feeling I've known her all along?' he asked aloud.

Frowning he tried to remember the dream he kept having, and, more importantly, his most recent one. For he had not called her Karin, he had called her by another name, yet it was Karin, he was certain of it.

He had called her Kharma.

Kharma. Had she been in his previous life too? Was this all one big cycle, and she was destined to die again?

He shuddered, then he came to a stop, hovering above the Kurosaki Clinic.

He dropped down onto a lamppost outside, he was about to jump down when he heard a shout.

'Toshiro! Run! Get away from here …. Gah!'

'Kurosaki?' Toshiro whirled round. He was once again surrounded by armed Shinigami.

He looked down and saw Renji restraining Ichigo, with a hand over his mouth. Ichigo bit down hard on Renji's hand, which made him relinquish his hold on the orange haired shinigami.

'I'm sorry Toshiro, they arrived about 5 minutes before you did.'

Hitsugaya didn't say anything, he merely nodded at Ichigo, then he heard a car turn the corner onto the road outside the clinic. Hitsugaya jumped down onto the road in front of the car, and began to walk towards the Sotaicho on the opposite side.

'TOSHIRO, NO!' he knew that voice.

Someone pushed him roughly in the chest sending him flying backwards off the road. He heard a screech of wheels, a thud and then a crack. The car then took off at a great speed.

Hitsugaya turned round to see who had pushed him.

His Bankai shattered.

Karin was lying in the middle of the road, blood pooling around her head.

'Karin? … KARIN!' Hitsugaya got up and ran straight for her.

The Shinigami guards tried to hold him back but the Sotaicho signalled for them to stop.

'Leave him.' He said, and the shinigami guards fell back.

'Karin … Karin you idiot, the car would have gone straight through me. What were you thinking? Even if you do die, there's such a slim chance of me actually finding your soul again. It could go anywhere, and once a soul burial's performed you lose your memories … you lose … everything …. Oh Karin, you're such an idiot.'

He clung onto her, as if daring anyone to take her away. Tears fell from his eyes, tears he was not accustomed to. He heard several gasps and a flutter of material, but he ignored it. It was then that he felt a hand on his shoulder.

'What?' he mumbled, not wanting to face the situation at the moment.

'Oh, don't I even get a _hello?'_

Toshiro carefully placed Karin on the floor, hardly daring to believe it, but his heart was in euphoria – he knew that voice.

He turned.

'Hey, Tosh, miss me already?'

He looked up at her stunned. She was wearing shinigami uniform and had a red hilted sword at her side. Karin was a shinigami.

She opened her arms wide, expecting a hug.

He jumped up and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips against hers, in case she disappeared at any moment, filled with every emotion he could think of.

'That's better but you know I'm not going anywhere,' she murmured.

Then she caught sight of the Sotaicho. She poked Toshiro in the ribs, he winced. Since his Bankai had disappeared his injuries weren't being supported any more, Karin supported him on her shoulder and turned to face the Sotaicho.

'I thought I told you that you were not to come to the living world ever again,' the Sotaicho reminded.

'You did, and I ignored,' replied Toshiro.

Several shinigami started muttering, but the Sotaicho held up his hand to silence them. As he did so, he noticed something different about Toshiro; there was no fear behind his eyes anymore, just plain resolution.

'Why?' he asked.

'Because Karin means more to me than your orders,' said Toshiro, quietly.

Ichigo smiled to himself, _god damn that little brat, guess he did learn a thing or two_.

'Very well, you are dismissed.'

The Sotaicho turned and began to walk away.

'Wait, don't I get in trouble or something?' Toshiro asked, astonished that he wasn't being flayed alive at that exact moment.

'Do you want to get in trouble?'

'Not particularly'

'Well then,' the Sotaicho continued walking.

'But, why?' Toshiro felt strange asking that question after having it asked to him all day.

'If you feel that strongly about her, that you are knowingly willing to disobey a direct order from me, with that much determination in your soul, I have no place in life to alter it. Besides, she is no longer human, correct?'

Toshiro and Karin nodded simultaneously.

'Then there is no law broken here, however, you did break one of my orders. But then again, you always seem to find loopholes anyway.'

Toshiro fidgeted slightly, Karin just smiled slightly.

'As such, I am leaving Karin a responsibility to you, she is to be under your care to train and become a successful shinigami. Do you understand?'

'Yes, sir.' Toshiro said, nodding.

'Very well then, I will ask Ukitake to open a Senkei gate for us.'

* * *

Some time later, after the Sotaicho had contacted Ukitake, people where relaxing and talking to one another.

Renji had apoligised for punching Ichigo, and Ichigo had bandaged Renji's hand.

Karin was getting hugged by Matsumoto, who had been dragged along by the Sotaicho, in case Toshiro needed reasoning with.

Toshiro, however, was talking to the Sotaicho.

'I feel I am partly to blame for this fiasco,' the Sotaicho conceded.

'How so?' Toshiro asked.

'I made you a Taicho, because you were far beyond anyone else in abilities, and you had worked long and hard on your skills. I felt that you had earned it. But I did not take the time to consider how it would affect you. Now, I wish I had. By offering you that position, you felt as though you had to grow up, to fit your role, so that other would respect you. As such, you grew up too fast, and missed out on some of the most important things one learns while growing up. And for that, Hitsugaya, I am to blame.'

'It's not your fault, I made those choices, it's no-ones fault but my own.'

The Sotaicho nodded at him.

'That is very modest of you. But, there is more that I must tell you. The task I set you on, was also designed to see how well you coped, to see how much you could be affected, and whether you would change. The orb, yes, it was created, but the Cave you found it in was real all along. The original orb was taken many years ago by someone called the Celestial Prince. He was told to undergo this task to see if his love was real. It was. As such, the orb was never returned, but it is said that the orb will crack and the caves will collapse if that love were to die. So you see, somewhere out there the one who took that orb still loves the one who helped him get it, and visa versa.'

'What's your point?'

'My point? No point, just I thought that it might interest you of all people.'

Toshiro had the feeling that he was hiding something, but he didn't press the point. He had encountered too many ambiguities lately.

'Can you tell me, what did those pictures mean. The carvings on the wall of the cave?'

The Sotaicho studied him a while before answering.

'The first one showed you a Moon, and a man glowing, the second, a sun and the man cowering in fear. The moon was to represent the Celestial Princes power, all those years ago, the sun sucked his powers away, and made him vunerable to the evils that lurk in the cave. Those evils are uncertainty and fear, encompassed in flesh and bone.'

'Wait … that happened to me too, when I could see the moon, I felt like everything I was doing was right. But when the sun came up, the monsters attacked, and I panicked.'

'Hmmm, you see. The next set of pictures simply showed various attempts to reach the orb, with it finally disappearing.'

'So that's what you expected me to bring back, nothing.'

'Exactly. However, you came back with the orb – the last engraving – two people, side by side, taking, and leaving with the orb, unharmed.'

'Well we certainly didn't leave unharmed,' Toshiro still had faint scars where the monster had swiped him across the chest.

'No, but the gesture is still there.'

Toshiro snorted.

'Oi, the gate is open,' Ichigo called.

He was waving from the group of shinigami that had clustered around the gate, eager to get back home.

Toshiro sighed, but the Sotaicho just chuckled and shook his head as Ichigo fussed over his sister before she was about to step through the gate.

'Thank you' Toshiro said, and he walked towards Karin to free her from Ichigo's grasp as she snarled to get away.

'You're very welcome, Hitsugaya Taicho.'

The Sotaicho went through first, followed by the guards, then Renji and a singing Matsumoto, who still wondering what Toshiro's and Karin's kids would look like. Toshiro walked through after them, and as Karin went to follow, Ichigo pulled her back.

'If he hurts you, you can come back you know or-'

'Ichi-Nii, I'll be fine, besides you were the one who trained me this far, that's why I didn't die in the caves.'

'So, miss. I–used-Hyorinmaru-to-save-my-life … you fended those beasts off yourself did you?'

Karin squeaked as Toshiro came up behind her and grabbed her waist.

'Come on, the others are wondering where you've gone.'

He walked to the gate and held out his hand to her.

Karin looked at Toshiro and smiled, then she looked back at Ichigo.

'It'll be fine, I promise, besides I can come back and visit, and you have a free pass to Soul Society any time you want.'

'I know, I know … sheesh, how am I gonna tell dad and Yuzu about you going off to Soul Society, huh?'

'You'll think of a way, just be glad I made you tell them about it.'

She grinned, and before Ichigo could respond, she had grabbed Toshiro's hand and run through the Senkei gate.

It glowed bright, then dissolved into thin air, leaving Ichigo standing alone, in the street.

Ichigo started walking back to his house, when a sudden thought occurred to him.

'I wonder how long it will take before I'm an uncle?'

* * *

**Just one more Chapter to go guys, and then I'll be writing a story to fill in all the ambiguities mentioned in these last few chapters**


	9. Setting Sun

**AAAIIIEEEE!!! It's been over a month since my last update!  
****Holy … =\ just filling in from last chapter to next**

* * *

**Chapter Title;** Setting Sun

As soon as Toshiro and Karin re-materialised into the confines of Seireitei there was a huge cheer, and Toshiro was pulled into an oxygen depriving hug by Matsumoto.

'Oh, I'm so happy for you Taicho!' She squealed, hugging and swinging Toshiro round.

Finally, he managed to wriggle his way free, only to end up in Karin's arms, though he didn't struggle to free himself this time.

There was a slight bout of giggling from members of the Women's Shinigami Society, and wolf whistling from Renji. Toshiro and Karin ignored them and simply hugged each other, never wanting to let go, ever again.

Someone tapped on his shoulder, and the crowd went very quiet.

Toshiro turned round, and looked up to see the Sotaicho.

'I may accept your relationship with Miss Kurosaki, but please carry out your signs of affection for one another in private,' the Sotaicho said, walking towards his office.

Karin put a hand in front of her mouth to stifle her giggles into snorts; Toshiro just blushed and stared straight ahead of him, even though the Sotaicho was no longer there.

'Come, there are things we need to arrange and discuss,' the Sotaicho called back.

Toshiro walked obediently after him, then, realising Karin had not followed him, he walked back and pulled her with him.

* * *

'Miss Kurosaki here will attend the Shinigami Academy to gain extra skills, such as Kido manipulation and be able to converse with her Zanpaktou better, is there any problem with this, Miss Kurosaki?'

'No, Sotaicho, but I can already talk to Yamaneko perfectly well, sir.'

'Yamaneko? I take it this is your Zanpaktou. However, being able to communicate without having proper training is interesting.'

'What can I say? Urahara is a good teacher'

There was a good deal of light hearted mumbling, Ukitake and Shunsui laughed slightly.

'Care to demonstrate?'

Karin looked uncertainly to Toshiro who was standing next to her. She didn't feel comfortable about asking Yamaneko to appear in front of all the Taicho's, but Toshiro gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, so Karin sought out Yamaneko.

Her eyes went cloudy, the irises become a pale red and the pupils vanished. She was in her subconscious now.

_Yama? … Yama?_

_**What is it, hunny?**_

_The old man wants to see you, I know it's late notice but-_

_**You want me to show off?**_

…_. Please?_

_**Whoa whoa, hun, you don't have to beg … I love giving people a fright **__*cue evil grin*_

Karin's eyes returned to normal, and she took her stance.

'Yakedo, Kazan Yamaneko!' She swung the sword in a horizontal arc.

Flames spouted from the tip and coiled around her. They gathered together to the side of her, forming a ball of molten rock and flames, the ball then started to cool and harden. It rose slightly, and then shattered as a huge cat sprung out of it, landing lightly beside Karin as if it were made from wool.

Yamaneko was a huge cat, as tall as Karin on its four huge paws. It's eyes were yellow with slits for pupils, it's fur was black with patterns that looked like trails of molten lava glowing a redish orange. The tips of it's ears were tufted, as was the end of it's tail, but at the end of it's tail there was a firey haze. However, it was the huge fangs, which resembled those of Saber Tooth's, which caught people's eyes.

Yamaneko was beautiful.

'Holy cats,' Shunsui exclaimed.

'_Not quite holy, perverted one_,' Yamaneko said wisely.

'Yamaneko!' Karin reprimanded, but Shunsui just laughed.

It was then that everyone's attention was drawn towards Toshiro, whose Zanpaktou had begun to glow bright blue.

'_Hyorinmaru wants out, little snowpup' _Yamaneko said to Toshiro.

'What did she just call me?' Toshiro whispered to Karin as he drew Hyorinmaru.

He didn't need to bother with the release command, as Hyorinmaru materialised in front of them. Thankfully, he had taken into account the fact that there wasn't enough room for him inside, so he had become a great deal smaller.

'_Long time no see fur ball_,' were Hyorinmaru's first words.

Yamaneko sweat dropped, '_you're hopeless_' she hissed, flicking her tail in exasperation, '_you didn't do anything I told you to did you?_'

'_No, because then I wouldn't have any fun, this boy doesn't train anymore, at least not as much as he used to, and I get bored easily._'

Toshiro frowned, and mumbled something about 'busy with paperwork'.

Yamaneko just snorted, '_this whole fiasco could have been dealt with much better if you had just told the boy_.'

'_I don't think this is a fiasco_' Hyorinmaru said, shifted slightly as he readjusted his coils.

'_Not anymore_,' Yamaneko hissed again.

Karin coughed, 'eh hem, excuse me, would mind having this argument inside your little Zanpaktou world were all of us can't hear you.'

Toshiro could have sworn Hyorinmaru gave him a cheeky smile, before, to everyone's surprise, sticking his tongue out at Yamaneko then disappearing.

'_Why that…_' Yamaneko grumbled some more as she disintegrated and returned to her sword form in Karin's hand.

'Wow, she's kicking up a storm of insults now,' Karin said amusedly.

'I didn't think Hyorinmaru was that immature,' Ukitake wondered out loud, the rest of the Taichos nodded.

'Oh, don't worry I did,' Toshiro said, sounding bored.

'Well, after that, _demonstration_, I think Miss Kurosaki here, would be better suited going for a Kido based course, in which case I shall notify the Academy. As for living space, I think I'll let Toshiro take care of that for you.'

Karin smiled up at Toshiro, completely oblivious it seems to the innuendo that had just been uttered. Everyone else, however, had noticed, and were either muttering or laughing silently. Toshiro merely frowned up at the Sotaicho.

* * *

Karin and Toshiro were sitting on the roof of the Tenth Division building, looking out over the view of Seireitei stained orange by the setting sun. He said he often came up here when he couldn't sleep, and now Karin understood why.

'I thought the meeting with your family went rather well,' Toshiro said, in an off hand sort of way, but Karin caught the slight note of pure astonishment in there.

_Karin and Toshiro walked up to the Kurosaki residence and were about to open the door when Ichigo came flying out._

'_Don't go in Karin, just don't, I haven't told him anything yet, I was just about to, but-'_

'_What's this, my darling Karin-chan is home - at long last she has come to check on her fathe-' Karin put her hand straight into his face, silencing any more jargon that might escape him._

_Isshin's outstretched arms fell back to his sides._

'_Dad, I only came home to tell you something.'_

_Isshin's ears perked up with interest._

'_My daughter is getting married?'_

'_Eh, not quite,' Karin sighed. _

_Toshiro snapped his head round to look at Karin, and Ichigo just gave him a nudge in the ribs with his elbow, apparently Ichigo had approved of them, for now._

'_Not quite? So I'm close,' Karin removed her hand away so that Isshin could look at her seriously, 'oh my gosh, is my daughter pregnant?!'_

'_EH? NO!' Karin yelled, though she was blushing, and she wasn't the only one, 'I've come to tell you that, I kinda died.'_

_Isshin stared at her, 'huh?'_

'_I got hit by a car, so now im in a Gigai and I will be going back to Soul Society with Toshiro here' she reached behind her and grabbed Toshiro hand, and he walked to stand next to her._

'_MY DAUGHTER HAS A BOYFRIEND!' Isshin exclaimed._

'_Ring a Ding Ding, well done,' but Isshin had gone on a mad 5 minutes around the house, and didn't seem all too close to calming down._

_Then to Karin's shock Yuzu came into view from the living room._

'_Is it true Karin-chan? You really have a boyfriend?' Yuzu questioned in hushed tones._

'_Why does everyone seem to find this surprising? Yes I do,' she raised the hand that was holding Toshiro's._

'_Aww,' Yuzu ran up to him and kissed him on the cheek, 'please be nice to her, but also try to be patient, she may seem a little oblivious at times.'_

_Toshiro blushed and Karin yelled at her sister about being perfectly quick witted thank you very much._

'Hmm, I guess it did, compared to how I thought it might turn out,' she yawned, and rested her head on Toshiro' shoulder.

'Hey, Toshiro?' she said, watching as the Sun set further and further out of view.

'Hmm?'

'You know that night, back at my apartment … was that time, your first time?'

Of all the questions in the world, why did she have to ask that one?

'Umm …' she shifted slightly, 'yeah, it kinda was.'

'Holy shit, and I thought you were experienced, what are you gonna be like the second time?' Karin wondered.

Toshiro blushed deep red, still staring at the now non existent sun.

It occurred to him that the sun had always seemed to cause problems for him, but a lack of it would be even more disastrous. That's where Karin came in, he supposed. As the sun sets, Karin would still be there to balance things up, and as night turns to day, he would be there to reflect her light as the moon would with the sun. As a problem rises, another shall set.

He sighed contentedly. Then nudged Karin slightly.

'Hey, stand up a minute; I want to give you a piggy back,' Toshiro whispered.

Karin yawned again, but stood up and draped her arms around his neck while he caught her legs.

'Bankai' he whispered.

The ice armour, dragon mask and wings returned in their full glory. Karin hadn't had time to fully appreciate them as she did now, drawing a hand over one of the ornate wings. Just as she did they fluttered slightly, and then flapped. Toshiro bent down low and propelled himself up into the sky.

Karin held on for dear life as Toshiro rocketed upwards into the clear star scattered sky.

He soared over the buildings of Seireitei, with Karin's head resting on his neck, looking down at the scenery below them.

He gliding down to a lake, and begun to skim it's surface. Karin draped a hand down and felt the water; it was hard as ice, Toshiro's freezing reiatsu taking effect on the lakes surface.

Soon she had fallen asleep, and Toshiro came to a stop slowly, hovering about his dorm roof, before dropping down silently outside his door. He slid the door open, carrying Karin inside, and shut the door behind him.

He carried her over to his bed, where he lay her down; taking off his Keikogi he clambered into bed too.

Wrapping his arms around her, and nuzzling her hair, he sighed.

'Night, Karin.'

* * *

**Eh, this was supposed to be the last chapter, but I added an extra one so that this story links to As if it Never Happened - which is this stories sequel, that I wrote first … yeah I make no sense =P**

**Reviews please?**


	10. News to Toshiro

**Anyone who read As if it Never Happened  
****Will recognise the Chapter Title  
**

* * *

**Chapter Title;** News to Toshiro

_4 Years Later…_

Soul Society was quiet, the early morning rays beamed through shutter and window curtains into unsuspecting Shinigami eyes, causing them to groan and grumble as their sleep was rudely interrupted, only to then realise it was the last day of the week. No work day, as it was otherwise known as.

Toshiro yawned loudly, and stretched, his arms come up above in front of his face, and his feet poked out from the bottom of the blanket. He frowned and pulled them back up quickly, into the nice warmth of his bed. He rolled over and opened his eyes. What met his eyes was the sleeping figure of the best woman he had ever met in his entire life. That's a long time; at just over 100 years old, that was a lot time to meet a lot of people.

Toshiro simply stared at her for a while, not wanting to wake her up. There were two reasons for this; one, she had been training a lot lately to reach Bankai, finally achieving it a little over three days ago, so she was tired. Two, the last time he'd woken her up from her much needed sleep she had hit him in the face, causing him to have a rather violent nosebleed.

Karin shuffled slightly, opened her eyes, and looked at Toshiro. She breathed in deeply, and then exhaled in Toshiro's face. He wrinkled his nose.

'Mornin' Tosh,' she whispered, yawning again.

Toshiro mumbled as he sat up, and stretched again. It was then that Karin stopped playing sleeping lion. She pounced.

'GAH!' Karin grabbed Toshiro by the sides and forced him back down to the bed. She began to tickle him mercilessly, and then all of a sudden she stopped.

As Toshiro tried to get up, Karin put her hand on his head, forcing him back down into the pillow and she pushed herself of the bed.

When Toshiro looked up, Karin wasn't anywhere to be seen. Then he heard retching sounds come from the bathroom. Oh dear.

'Karin? Are you alright?' He asked walking rather quickly to the door, which was shut.

Silence.

'Do I sound alright?!' Karin choked.

Toshiro bit his lip, and opened the door. Karin was kneeling on the floor, arms around her stomach. She got up from the floor, ran some water and dunked her face in it.

Toshiro winced.

It was the third time she had been sick in the morning, something was really wrong, but she refused to go see Unohana.

He sighed, and decided that today he would not take 'No' for an answer.

Just as he resolved himself on this decision, a knock come from the door.

'Who the hell?' Toshiro said aloud.

He walked to the door, then, noticing how exposed he felt, looked down at his attire.

Thankfully, they hadn't got up to anything last night, so he still had his boxers on, and she still had her underwear on. Still, if anyone were to come round, as they had done now; it wouldn't do to be just wearing underwear. He grabbed Karin's yukata and went over to the bathroom again.

He opened the door and handed it to Karin who was drying her face with a towel.

Karin eyed the Yukata with distain

'Since when have you ever complained about my lack of clothing before?' she said, raising an eyebrow.

'Since we have people knocking at the door,' Toshiro answered frowning.

'Ah', and with that she took the Yukata and put it on.

Toshiro bent down beside the bed, and reached under it to grab his Hakama. Half dressed; he went to open the door, and who should be on the other side, none other than Unohana herself.

'Good morning, Hitsugaya Taicho', Unohana smiled.

'Ah, Morning Unohana Taicho', Toshiro replied, looking slightly confused, only slightly.

'I suppose you're wondering why I'm here? Right?'

'Hai, but I have somethi-'

'TOSHIRO! bloody hell, let her in. Christ, sometimes I wonder about you.' Karin had evidently come out of the bathroom.

'Hai … Please come in,' he turned round, leaving the door open, and glared at Karin; she just leaned against a wall smirking.

Unohana closed the door, and followed them into their living room. She knew Hitsugaya well enough to know that all the nick nacks and such were not his doing, but rather that of his girlfriend. Photos, pieces of paper, treasures and other assortments lined the walls, making them look like a badly completed jigsaw puzzle.

'I've come concerning the tests that we did of all the Taichos last week,' Unohana explained.

Toshiro was suddenly much more alert then he had been before, sitting up straighter and looking more attentively at the healing Shinigami Taicho.

'Absolutely nothing wrong with you, you're perfectly healthy,' she said, beaming like the sun.

Toshiro clearly relaxed.

These tests were something new that Unohana had introduced. All the Taichos and Lieutenants had to take either an Annual or monthly health test, to see whether any of them were suffering from any illnesses that could impair their fighting abilities. Kenpachi, Mayuri and Soi Fon had complained about the monthly aspect, and so the Annual Taicho/Lieutenant Check-up had been established.

To know that he was not going to confront any problems was a good sign.

Toshiro hadn't argued about the idea at all. Firstly, he thought it was a good idea as Aizen seemed to have gone quiet for quite some time now. Secondly, he had the impression that if he spoke out of line, or argued with anything again, any time too soon; he'd be kicked out for sure.

Though he had been thoroughly surprised at how much the Sotaicho had taken a liking to Karin. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Karin's Zanpaktou was a fire cat.

'Well, that's nice to hear, thank you for coming to tell us that Unohana Taicho,' Karin said sweetly.

Then Toshiro's brain crash landed back into his head.

'Unohana Taicho, before you go, there's something I want to ask you.'

Karin should have heard the alarm bells ringing at this point, but unfortunately she was too slow to stop Toshiro saying what came next.

'You see, Karin's been really sick lately. She's been like it for three days now, she refused to go see you, but since you're here, do you think you could what wrong?'

Karin could have skinned him alive. She was fine, just upset stomach over something she ate late at night probably. Or maybe it was… no, it couldn't be.

'Hmm,' Unohana stretched out a hand and placed it on Karin's forehead.

The palm of her head hand glowed and Karin's eyes fluttered closed. Unohana frowned, and then withdrew her hand. Karin's eyes snapped open.

'There doesn't appear to be any illness she's contracted of any sort, but there is something odd, but I can't recognise it,' Unohana sighed.

_Shit_, Karin thought, _that's it, it has to be._

Unohana had already got up to leave, and Toshiro was walking her to the door.

'Wait!' Karin scrambled up, 'Unohana Taicho, can I have a quick word with you?'

She pulled Unohana off into another room, leaving Toshiro feeling both left out and bewildered on the threshold of his house, so he sulked back into the living room.

Unohana and Karin came back after about 10 minutes. Toshiro jumped up, but Karin pointed at him then at the floor. Stay. Then they both left.

Toshiro frowned but obediently sat back down on the sofa, scowling at the floor.

* * *

30 minutes later, Karin came back retrieving something from her pocket.

'Karin, what's going on?' Toshiro asked standing in front of her.

'I just want to check something'

And with that, she walked into the bathroom, and quietly closed the door.

* * *

After about 15 minutes, Toshiro was getting impatient. Karin was never this gentle and quiet; she was never this secretive without leaving tantalising hints; she was never one for 'checking' anything.

He got up and knocked on the bathroom door.

'Karin' he whined, 'just tell me what's going on, or I'm coming in.'

No answer.

'Fine, I'm coming in.'

He opened the door and walked in.

Karin had her back to him, and was looking at something in her hand; she began pacing, then stopped, and looked at the thing in her hand again.

'Karin, what's that?' Toshiro asked, pointing to the object in her grasp.

She squeaked, and turned round to face him, hiding the object behind her back.

'Nothing,' she said.

Toshiro sweat dropped, 'it's a bit late for that, I already know it's there.'

'Nope, just a figment of your imagination'

'Karin'

'No.'

'Give me-'

'No'

'Fine', he lunged, successfully grabbing her arms, and worming the object out of her grasp.

He looked down at it.

It was just a plastic strip, then he turned it over to see what was on the back.

'Don't-'

Too late.

Toshiro stared down at the 8 letters that were boring into his brain.

P . r . e . g . n . a . n . t

'….. NANI?!'

* * *

**Mwahaha, yessums, you can pretty much pick up from here at the beginning of As if it Never Happened.**

**As for the pregnancy test - Well Unohana figured that she could use Kido to detect a different reiatsu - the one inside Karin … and, you get my point? =D.**


End file.
